This invention relates to vacuum cleaning apparatus for cleaning floors or other surfaces. More particularly the invention relates to vacuum cleaning apparatus for cleaning edge regions of floors that are adjacent to walls or other vertically extending surfaces.
Vacuum cleaners have a motor driven rotary fan which draws air into an intake opening in a housing to create suction which draws dust and other loose material into the housing. The cleaning effect is enhanced if a rotating brush is present at the air intake opening. The brush loosens dust or other material that may tend to cling to the floor or to carpets or rugs which are present on the floor.
The air intake openings of commercially available vacuum cleaners which have a rotary brush do not extend all of the way to the side surfaces nor to the front surface of the vacuum cleaner housing. Portions of the housing bound the intake opening at the sides and at the front of the opening in order to define the air flow path and to channel the air flow towards the brush. Space adjacent to the ends of the intake opening is occupied by bearings for supporting the rotary brush. As a result, the air intake opening cannot be positioned directly over the extreme edge regions of the floor where the floor contacts a wall or other vertical surface. A rotary brush which is situated within the air intake opening cannot be abutted directly against the wall. Consequently, the standard vacuum cleaner does not clean the extreme edges of a floor in an efficient manner at locations where the floor meets a wall or other vertical surface.
In some instances, the problem is addressed by providing an air intake accessory which attaches to a flexible vacuum hose that bypasses the main air intake opening and rotary brush. This cleans the edge regions by suction only. Suction alone does not clean as effectively as suction combined with a brushing action. Some prior vacuum cleaner designs have supplemental brushes at the sides of the vacuum cleaner housing or brushes with angled bristles at the ends which extend away from the air intake opening towards the sides of the housing. Supplemental brushes or angled bristles of this kind are not directly within the air intake opening of the vacuum cleaner and are at a location where the suction effect is diminished or absent. Brushing in the absence of a strong suction air flow does not provide the most effective cleaning.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems discussed above.
In one aspect the present invention provides vacuum cleaning apparatus having a housing at which an air intake opening is situated and having a rotary brush disposed at the opening. The housing has intersecting first and second sidewalls which extend substantially at right angles to each other enabling one of the sidewalls to face a horizontally extending edge of a floor while the other sidewall faces a lower portion of a vertically extending wall. The air intake opening has first and second adjoining portions which extend substantially at right angles to each other, the first portion of the air intake opening being in the first sidewall of the housing and the second portion of the air intake opening being in the second sidewall of said housing. The rotary brush has bristles which protrude through the first portion of the air intake opening and also bristles which protrude through the second portion thereof.
In another aspect of the invention, vacuum cleaning apparatus includes a housing having an air intake region with intersecting first and second sidewalls that extend at right angles to each other enabling the air intake region to be fitted against an edge of a floor that is adjacent to a vertical wall. The air intake region of the housing has a right angled air intake opening situated at the intersecting first and second sidewalls and which extends across the intersection thereof. A rotary brush is disposed in the housing adjacent to the air intake opening and has bristles which protrude through the air intake opening at each of the first and second sidewalls and at the intersection thereof.
The invention enables efficient vacuum cleaning of the margins of a floor which are adjacent to a wall or other vertical surface. The vacuum cleaning apparatus has an air intake structure and a rotary brush which are configured to fit into the right angled junction of the floor and vertical wall. The air intake opening is angled to extend horizontally across the edge region of the floor and then upward along a lower edge of the wall. The rotary brush at the air intake opening has sides which are angled relative to each other enabling bristle contact with the edge region of the floor and also with the lower edge of the wall.
The invention, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may be further understood by reference to the following detailed description of the invention and by reference to the accompanying drawings.